Internal-combustion engine



Dec. 4, 1923;

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L BLACKMORE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed March 22, 1920 02 v1 fozPatented Dec. 4, 1923.-

UNITED STATES PATENT orrica.

LLOYD nnacxnonn, or HIGHLAND PARK, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR 'ro GENERAL moronsconrona'rron, or :on'raorr, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION or nnnawaanINTERNAL-COM BUST ION ENGINE.

Application m March 22', 1920. .Serial Rojas-1559.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I,-LLYD BLAOKMORE a subject of the King of GreatBritain, an a resident of Highland Park, county of Wayne, and State ofMichi an, have invent.- ed certain new and useful mprovements inInternal-Combustion Engines, of which the followingis a full, clear,concise, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which the invention relates 'to make and use the same,reference being made therein to the accompanying drawings, which form apart .of this specification.

My invention relates to mternal combustion engines," and particularly toengines in which provision is made for supplying water vapor to thecombustible mixture as it flows toward the engine cylinder; so that thecombustible mixture supplied to the engine in the normal operationthereof contains a certain amount of water commonly in the form ofsteam.

It is a well recognized fact in the art relating to internal combustionengines that a better operation is secured therein if water vapor ispresent in the combustible mixture,-

particularly in the case of engines operating upon kerosene or upongasolene of the kin procurable at the present time and in wh ch there iscommonly a considerable quantity of liquid hydrocarbons having acomparatively high boiling point; the presence of the water vapor in themixture supplied. to the engine having the effect of reducing the amountof carbon deposited within the cylinder thereof, as well also as theefiect of avoiding reignition during the compression stroke an securinga smogther operation of the engine, due to a less sudden burning of themixture and a more sustained pressure during the working stroke.

The objectof my invention is therefore to provide improve means forsupplying water vapor to the combustible mixture as it flows toward theengine and, inasmuch as the supply of water vapor While advantageouswhen the engine is heated up and'in operation is neverthelessdetrimental at starting and interferes with the starting thereof, myinvention contemplates means forautomatically controlling the supply. ofwater vapor to-the combustible charge; such means being thermostaticallycontrolled so that the supply of water vapor to ,the combustible mixturewill not occur at the starting of the engine and when the same is cold,but will be automatically turned on, as it were, as the engine becomesheated and attains its normal operation, after which the supply of vaporto the combustible mixture continues so long as the engine remains inoperation.

The water vapor supplied to the combustible mixture in engines of thetype referred to is ordinarily produced by heating a vol- .ume of waterin a closed chamber and conducting the resulting steam from said chamberto and discharging the same into a passage leading to the engine, and afurther ob ect of my invention is to provide means for supplying steamto the combustible mixture as above pointed out and in which the chamberin which the water is evaporated is located within the cylinder block,and derlves its su ply of water from the cooling water within the jacketspace of the cylin der block; the water evaporating chamber in questionbeing arranged adjacent the exhaust conduit of the engine and having, awall in common therewith, so that the said chamber will be effectivelyand highly heat ed and the steam generated therein in a like highlyheated condition.

. Further objects of my invention will appear from the followingdescription and from the drawing accompanying and forming a part of thisspecification it being appreciated, however, that the drawing is forillustrative purposes only; and that the particular embodiment of myinvention illustrated therein may be variously modified withoutdeparting from the scope thereof, as the said invention is described inthe concluding claims. 1

Referring now to the drawing in which the preferred embodiment of myinvention is illustrated:

Figure 1 is a sectional view upon a vertical plane illustrating aninternal combustion engine equipped with my invention.

Figure 2 is a view showing the water evaporating chamber involved in myinventionupon a larger scale than in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view showing an alternative method of supplying the watervapor to the, conduit through which combustible mixture flows to theengine.

, cylinder within which the piston 6,oper

ates, and with ahead formed integrally with the cylinder; altho inreferring to a cylinder block in this specification and.v in the claimsit'will be appreciated that I refer to a unitary structure comprisingthe cylinder, its head, and the various passages and ports through-whichcombustible mixture flows into the working cylinder and through whichexhaust gases flow therefrom irre spective of whether said elements areall formed as a single integral member as shown, or are formed separatefrom one another and secured together. particularly as regards thecylinder per se' and the head thereof, as is often the case in internalcombustion engines.

Thev reference numeral 7 designates a closed water containing chamber.from which a conduit 8 leads,'and through which conduit water vapor orsteam is discharged into the inlet passage 9 through which combusti-'ble mixture formed by the carburetor 10 flows on its way to the engine;so that steam produced within the said chamber 7 and; discharged intothe inlet assage will mix therein with the combusti le mixture flowingtoward the engine and provide a combustible mixture in which a certainamount of water vapor will be present.

The water containing chamber 7 is shown as located within the cylinderblock of the engine and as formed as an internal cavity or chamberwithin said block during the casting o eration whereby the block ispro-- duced. t will be appreciated, however,

that the chamber need not necessarily be lo-.

cated Within the head portion of the cylinder block, such a location ofthe chamber in gluestion being employed because of the fam ity withwhich the said chamber may be heated; the heating being accomplished inthe form of my invention illustrated'by heat derived from the burnedgases flowing through the exhaust passage 11 of the cylinder block, thesaidpassage and the closed chamber 7 having a common wall 12 throughwhich a flow of heat occurs to thereby evaporate water within thechamber 7 in the. embodiment of my invention illustrated.

The water may be supplied to the chamber 7 in various ways, butpreferably by providing a restricted passage 13 of comparatively smallarea leading from ,the water jacket space 14 of the cylinder block into"the said closed chamber, and through which water may flow into saidchamber. The

chamber in question, however, is isolated from the main water jacketspace of the eylinder block so that no circulation ofthe cooling wateroccurs through said chamber;

names?- from which it follows that the water within the chamber will beheated to an ex-, tremely high temperature and the steam generatedtherein will be dry and unmixed with unvaporized water and in a highlyheated condition; which is a desirable feature as the water supplied tothe inflowing combustible mixture shouldbe in a gaseous form when itreaches the interior -of the cylinder of the engine, in order to securethe maximum advantage due to the mixing of water with the combustiblemixture, as distinguished from, in the form of a liquid suspended in thecombustible mixture as is frequently the case when the means whereby thevapor is supplied to the incoming charge is not of such a character asto secure. the production of highly heated steam.

As hereinbefore stated, it is desirable that the water vapor shall notbe supplied to the infiowing combustible mixture until the engine hasbeen started, and has become heated up to approximately the temperatureunder which it normally operates; for which reason my invention includesmeansfor preventing the supply of. water tothe combustible mixture whenthe en ine is being started and for automatical y permitting such vaporto flow to the inlet passage leading to the engine when the same hasbecome heated, thus automatically supplying steam to the combustiblemixture as soon as the engine becomes heated and is operating in itsnormal manner; the automatic controlling means here referred to beinprefthe temperature of the engine itself will bring about the admissionof Water vapor to the inflowing combustiblemi'xture. Thus in the. formof my invention illustrated a thermostat 15 made'up of two strips ofmetal having unequal coeflicients of expansion is' located within thewater containing chamber 7 and carries a valve 16 at its free end,

which valve seats against a valve seat provided at the inner end of a.valve chamber 17 which screws into an opening in the top wall of thechamber and to which one end of the conduit 8 isconnected, and whichvalve chamber serves as a support for the thermostat and is providedwith a valve 18 for regulating the flow from the chamber 7.

It will be appreciated, however, that other forms of thermostaticallycontrolled flow controlling means may be used for controlling the Howthrough the conduit 8 and to the inlet passage 9, and that the valvewherei by such flow is controlled is not necessarily carried by thethermostatic element in question; so long as the construction andoperation of the thermostatically controlled means in question is suchasto prevent a flow through. the conduit 8 when the engine is cold and toopen said conduit and permit a flow of steam there through as the enginebecomes heated and commences to operate under its normal workingcondition.

In the form of my invention shown in Figure 1 the conduit 8 dischargesinto the inlet passage 9 above the fuel and air mixing region of thecarburetor 10, which is an arrangement of the partswherein condensationof the steam is less likely to occur or will occur to a lesser degreethan if the said conduit discharged at the jet of the carburetor, atwhich place a low temperature is commonly present due to thevaporization of the volatile fuel. I may, however, cause the conduitthrough which the steam is supplied to the infiowing mixture asaforesaid to discharge adjacent the fuel supply nozzle of thecarburetor, as shown in Figure 3 in which the conduit 18 dischargesadjacent and across the fuel supply nozzle 19; in which case the steamis mixed with the atom ized liquid hydrocarbon directly atthe placewhere the combustible mixture is produced and in which arrangement thestream of steam discharged through the conduit 18 assists to a certainextent in the atomization of the liquid hydrocarbon, and in theformation of a more intimate mixture of the air and hydrocarbon and thewater vapor which together form the said mixture, and in thevaporization of the fuel by communicating heat thereto. a

In view of the premises it will be appreci ated that my inventionprovides means for supplying water vapor to the combustible mixture asit flows toward the engine in which the water containing chamber whereinthe water is eva orated is heated to a high temperature, an in which thechamber in question is formed within the cylinder block of the engineand derives its supply of Water from the water jacket thereof; all ofwhich features contribute to an extremely high temperature within saidchamber, to an efl'ective vaporization of the water therein, and to anextremely high temperature of the steam produced. At the'same time theflow from said chamberis interrupted when the engine is being started sothat'at such times no water vapor is supplied to the mixture; while atthe same time provision is made for permitting a flow of steam to occurlnto such mixture after the engine has been started and is operatingnormally, the supply of steam to the combustible mixture beingautomatically controlled by a valve which in'turn is controlled bythermostatic means so as to 6 en only after the engine has become hea tothe temperature under which it normall operates.

Having thus escribed and explained my invention, I claim and desire tosecure by Letters Patent:

1. In combination in an internal combustion engine having an exhaustpassage formed in the cylinder block thereof, a closed water containinchamber formed in said cylber is in communication with the jacket spaceof the cylinder block through a restricted assage of comparatively smallarea; a coniluit leading from said chamber and discharging into theinlet passage leading to the engine; a valve for controlling the flowthrough said conduit; and a thermostat located within said chamber andWhich thermostat is opera-tively connected with said valve to controlthe same.

2. In combination in an internal combustion engine, a closed watercontaining chamber formed in the cylinder block thereof and whichchamber is in communication with the jacket space of said block througha restricted passage of comparatively small area; a conduit leading fromsaid chamber and discharging into the. inlet passage leading to theengine; and thermostatically controlled means for controlling the flowthrough said conduit.

3. In combination in an internal combustion engine, a closed watercontaining chamher formed in the cylinder block thereof and whichchamber is in communication with the jacket space of said block througha restricted assage of comparatively small area; a con uit leadin fromsaid chamber and discharging into t e inlet passage leading to theengine; and a thermostat located within said chamber and adapted tocontrol i the flow through said conduit.

4. In combination in an internal combustion engine having an exhaustpassage chamber and discharging'into the inlet pas sage leading to theengine; and means for controlling the flow throu h said conduit. 5. Incombination in an internal combus tion engine, a closed water containingcham-' ber; means for supplying water to said chamber; means for heatina conduit leading from said chamber an discharging into the inletpassage leadin to the engine; and thermostatically contro led meanslocated in said chamber and ada ted to control the flow through saidconduit.

6. In combination in an internal combustion engine, a closed watercontaining chamber; means for supplying water to said chamber; means forheatin said chambera conduit leading from and chamber and discharginginto the inlet passa e leadin to the en ine; a valve for control in theow throng said conduit; and a t ermostat said chamber" memes?operatively connedzed with said valve and discharging into the inletpassage leading to adapted to control the same. the en 'ne; and meansthe operation of 7. In combination in an internal combus which isdependent upon the temperature 10 tion engine, a closed water containingchamwithin said chamber for controlling the flow 5 her; means for suplying water to said through the conduit aforesaid.

chamber; means for eating said chamber" In testimony whereof I aflix mysignature. a conduit leading from we chamber and LLOYD BLACKMORE.

